


Bad News For Fulcrum

by MalcolmInSpace



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 05:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3557048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalcolmInSpace/pseuds/MalcolmInSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hera contacts Fulcrum about Gall Trayvis after Vision of Hope</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad News For Fulcrum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the community](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=the+community).



> Summary: Hera contacts Fulcrum about Gall Trayvis after Vision of Hope

Hera sat down heavily in the pilot’s chair and allowed herself a sigh she hadn’t wanted Ezra to see. The day had been a draining one, far more than she let on. Ezra was brave, and dedicated, and Kanan’s training was having its effect, but he was still so _young_. She scrubbed her hands over her face and looked out at the night sky above Lothal. Young, but no younger than all the Empire’s other victims. He had grown up hard, and would come into adulthood with the Rebellion. Still, despite all that he held fast to his hope, to his dream of a better tomorrow. And so would Hera.

Behind her, echoing down the corridors she could hear Zeb and Chopper arguing loudly and Sabine laughing. Hera suspected they were doing it deliberately to keep Ezra’s mind off the mission and off the Senator’s betrayal. That is what family did, and that is what they were, a family. Lost and alone, they had found each other in the vastness of the galaxy and that is what made them strong enough to topple an Empire.

She was delaying, and she knew it. Fulcrum was waiting, and Hera had to tell her the truth about the Senator and his perfidy. Who knows how many other cells he had broken or endangered? She sealed the cabin door, and with it the sounds of laughter and recovering good cheer. It would be waiting for her when the Rebellion’s work was done.

The signal went out first to a repeater station hidden out on the rolling plains of Lothal, then to orbit as a scrambled signal to the local HoloNet buoy. And from? Hera had no idea. She tried to trace it once and found it bounced around the galaxy through a confusion of relays and firewalls with no hint to its destination. Besides, Senators might prove faithless, but Fulcrum, Hera believed, was a fixed point, a hinge on which the Rebellion could turn.

With little fanfare the signal connected, and Fulcrum’s anonymous, featureless cowl materialized before her. “Was the mission a success?” Fulcrum’s voice was calm, flat, and distorted into anonymity.

“No, Fulcrum, it wasn’t. It was a trap.”

“Unfortunate. Will the Senator be able to continue to support our cause.”

Hera took a deep breath, kept her tone calm. “No, Fulcrum, _he_ was the trap. He’s been working for the Empire all along. He lured us into an ambush, and from what he said he’s doing it to other cells and movements he’s made contact with.”

 

There was a long silence as Fulcrum digested this. “That is... unfortunate.” For once, Hera fancied she could hear frustration behind Fulcrum’s controlled tone. “Still, you’ve unmasked him and now we can limit the damage he can do. That’s something, at least.”

“Doesn’t feel like much of a win.”

“No, I’m sure it doesn’t.” Then Fulcrum’s tones softened. “Your team, did they all get out alright?”

“Yes, thankfully. E took the Senator’s betrayal hard, but he’ll bounce back.”

“The young often do, while they can.” There were layers of meaning behind that, Hera could hear them in the heaviness of Fulcrum’s voice. “And E, how is his instruction progressing?”

Hera allowed herself a small laugh. “Well, I think, when he and K aren’t having tantrums about each other.”

Fulcrum chuckled. “I’m sure. The bond between master and learner is strong, but often tested.” Fulcrum switched from warm to businesslike like the moon going behind cloud. “Very well, Ghost, get some rest and carry on. Will be in contact soon. Fulcrum out.” And with that, they were gone.

Hera shut down the transmitter and wipe the history. That information would remain stored only in her head. She opened the cabin door and voices filtered back to her, warm and excited. They were debriefing the mission, swapping stories and exaggerations and teasing jibes. She smiled and went down to join them.

 

Somewhere, not as far away as Hera imagined, Ahsoka Tano sat back in her own chair and pulled off her Fulcrum cowl. She stretched and ran through a brief focus exercise to clear her mind and sooth away the frustrations of the day. Losing the Senator and the resources he promised hurt, and she would need to spend time making contact with all the other cells he might endanger and warn them. Still, she hadn’t lied when she’d said unmasking him was a kind of win, especially considering the Lothal team had gotten away cleanly with only a few illusions bruised.

 

Ahsoka yearned for the days when the Senate was more than a puppet paying homage to Palpatine. In truth, the Senate had been mired in bureaucracy and petty politicking long before a man named Sheev became consumed by the Dark Side, but even in those final days, those dark days, there had been those who not only espoused but lived the Republic’s ideals of charity and morality. Perhaps there still were. Names like Mon Mothma and Garm bel Iblis were being whispered in the right corners. And then there was Bail Organa, that fierce defender of democracy. Thinking of Bail made Ahsoka think of his daughter, little Leia, and the cold gulf that threatened to open up within Ahsoka whenever she looked at that little girl and saw the past looking back. “Oh, Obi-Wan, what did you do? Where did you go?”

She stood and stretched. Sitting at a holocomm station wasn’t exactly fighting battle droids, but it was still hard work. And unlike the Civil War, this time there was a right side to be on. A headstrong Padawan and a troubled Master. Where had she heard that before? But things would turn out differently for Ezra, Ahsoka promised herself. Even if she had to take matters into her own hands.

But that was the future, and in the now Ahsoka felt her bed calling to her. Sleep, and tomorrow would be one day closer to the fall of Sheev Palatine... and of Darth Vader.


End file.
